


Today Your Barista Is

by ziamxo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Lilo friendship, M/M, zarry friendship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1575614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziamxo/pseuds/ziamxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Liam has officially got the worst best friend and co-worker in the world. Or. He <i>does</i>. Until he gets <i>Zayn's</i> number.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Today Your Barista Is

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was planning on having this Beta'd being my first work to actually be shared and all but it was extremely late when I finished it and when I finish things I've written, I tend to get so excited and nervous. When that happens and it's amped by 500, things don't get published, so I took one for the team and here it is. Like I said earlier, it's my first work to be published in years so please be easy on me! This little thing here was inspired by [this](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbevvfUw0O1qduyeio1_500.jpg) little image here and I hope I at least did it some sort of justice. If I didn't, well, I tried. Anyways, tell me what you think! :)

“Have a nice day.” Liam waved off with a smile, lips pressed together as the crinkles by his eyes came into vision. Wow. Okay, that guy was definitely an eight out of ten.

“Jesus, Liam. Be any more obvious, I dare you.” Louis groaned once the sound of the chimes from the opened door had faded into the regular sounds of the ambience the coffee shop provided. Especially at these late night hours where you could possibly hear a pin-drop, you know, if Louis Tomlinson wasn’t your best friend and co-worker, of course.

 So, right. Louis was Liam’s best friend—had been since they were nothing but toddlers fighting over whose turn it was to drive around in Liam’s kiddie batmobile. (Louis always won. Liam always cried.) But to this day, sometimes this lad just made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Liam’s gaze continued staring at Louis all as he moved towards the door only to turn the lock and flip the sign of the coffee shop around to showcase the large letters spelling out ‘CLOSED’ towards the darkened street night.

“What?” Liam finally found himself asking as he tucked his head enough in order to be able to remove the work apron from around his neck, clearly still perplexed as to what Louis was referring to. What could he possibly be obvious about?

“Two extra pumps of caramel, _really?_ And then you add on extra whipped cream without him even asking. Oh, oh, oh. Let’s not forget that you didn’t charge him extra—oh, no, that’d be _appalling_ to someone with a smile like that.” Louis scoffed with a roll of his eyes as he took Liam’s apron and hung them in their adequate spot.

“You know, you’re sounding a lot like a jealous girlfriend.” Liam found himself responding, dodging the accusations that _maybe_ were right. Okay, they were right. But the guy _was_ cute. Could you blame him for acknowledging a good looking lad when he saw one?

“ _Boyfriend_. I’d be a _boyfriend._ And I am _not_.” Louis reprimanded, using the towel he’d been using to wipe at the counter to quickly whip Liam on his ass, causing the broader male to exhale out a quick, ‘ _Hey_!’

“You seriously need to get laid or something. This dopey-falling-in-love-at-the-coffee-shop shit idea you’ve got in your mind is really getting annoying.” Louis found himself saying dramatically before his frame was long lost somewhere in the back room.

At that, Liam rolled his eyes in the only way he knew how at times like these—playfully-- before reaching over to turn off the few coffee machines they left on until closing time.  “What the hell are you even _talking_ about?” Liam found himself asking, this time his expression more animated with the corners of his lips pulled up momentarily.

With no response having come, Liam simply shook it off because this was so like Louis. Leaving it for a dramatic pause or some shit like that.

Taking advantage of the moments he wasn’t being reprimanded for how he treated his customers, Liam finished wiping off the last two tables of the night before pulling the chairs up, face down onto the table.

“I’m _talking_ about,” Louis finally began, popping his head out, cerulean eyes searching for Liam before pointing at him, “The fact that your game is off far more than Roger from _Sister, Sister_ which, being your best friend and all, is more than a little concerning, mate.”

With that, Liam walked back towards the counter, eyebrows furrowed because--

“Did you just..” Liam began, tilting his head in the direction of Louis with lips slightly ajar as his eyebrows narrowed. He would’ve furthered on with asking what Liam had in mind but the grin etched on Louis’ expression was an answer enough as he came back from the back room with two warm biscuits in hand.

 “Don’t insult me.” Liam settled on, body standing upright, reaching for one of the biscuits that Louis had warmed up.

“I’m serious, mate.” Louis’ voice came out muffled after taking a bite from the biscuit. “We need to get you on a date.”

“And I’m serious when I say that I’m alright, mate. If it happens, it happens.” Liam shrugged, taking a bite out of his biscuit before setting it down on the counter next to the cash register (which only made Louis whine in disapproval given he’d just cleaned that area) and reached for a piece of chalk and the eraser that came with it before making his way around the counter, heading towards the chalkboard that faced the door. Easy access to the customers is exactly what Liam thought every time he saw the placement.

Erasing the board’s daily special, Liam switched the chalk from his left hand on over to his right before writing the special he knew was meant to be for the next day. “Two drinks—buy one get one half off, right?” Liam found himself asking either way. It never hurt to be safe. (Not to mention the fact that he’d once switched around days and had found himself in a little more trouble than he would’ve liked with more than a few unhappy customers. He still shudders at the memory.)

“Two drinks—buy one get one—“ Louis cut himself off, an idea coming into play. Liam was sure of it.

“What?” Liam questioned casually, looking up at his mate who had this—this look that always made Liam more uneasy than he would’ve liked to admit.

“What? No, yeah, that’s it mate. That’s.. definitely _it.”_ Louis nodded vehemently.

This…couldn’t be good.

Not with that look in his eyes.

Oh, God.

_\--_

The next morning, Liam was quick at wiping at the tables that _really_ early birds had occupied. He made sure each table was sorted and free from crumbs and cup rings before deciding that this place was tidy enough to try to clean up the supply closet.

It was Wednesday after all.

Wednesdays were always slow days.

With no sign or sound of Louis for the past ten minutes—his usual ‘I’m more of a people person, really. You can do all the hard work labor on your own, Payno.’

It wasn’t like it was said like that, no. But Louis may as well have had.

“C’mon, Zayn. What’s the difference between a bird and a fly?”

Liam, found himself listening to a male as the door chimed indicating a new customer. His voice was deep and the way he talked was almost at a moderate pace with every word accentuated. Liam continued hauling the coffee beans with no real intentions of paying any close attention, though. Conversation was something you only really bothered to listen to on extremely boring, slow days.

It _was_ Wednesday.

 “I already told you, Harry, I’m not answering that question.” Another male voice—much thicker in terms of the accent he held. Liam would’ve guessed he was from Liverpool, maybe even Yorkshire. But then again, what would Liam know? It was just a rough estimate that could’ve been wrong. That probably _was_ wrong.

“Zaaayn.” The first male, the one that went by the name of Harry, whined out, which only caused the other male, Zayn, to probably refuse the request once more given Harry’s ‘C’mon, mate, _please.’_

Liam heard an exaggerated breath take place, one that seemed very common to the ones he, himself, was familiar receiving from Louis before Zayn spoke up yet again. “’Cos birds can fly but—“

“Flies can’t bird!” Harry joined along, soon finding himself laughing at the terribly articulated joke.  And when Liam said terribly.. he meant terribly. Even his jokes weren’t that bad.

…Where the hell was Louis, though?

Liam was going to kill him.

Stacking away the container of sugar, Liam wiped away the specks of the artificial sweetener from his fingers as he made an exit out of the room.

“So sorry about that. Seems like my co-worker disappeared on me.” Liam rambled, embarrassed for the lack of proper customer service. Because that’s the rep they had. 100& customer satisfaction, _guaranteed_. (Ignoring Liam’s mishap with the chalkboard, that is)

That wasn’t necessarily what had Liam’s face flush with color at all, no. That—that easily had to do with the male standing before him, eyeing away at the specials. Liam eyed at his prominent jawline and the way his stubble effortlessly added a mature, yet, ‘not trying too hard’ kind of vibe to the male. The way the simple plaid shirt hugged the males body in all the right places and his flat, fluffy hair.. _fuck._

At an unexpected moment, whiskey colored eyes looked up, the other males eyes eyeing at his name tag before some sort of… of smirk came over him.

That.. that was a smirk, right?

It—when—why was he looking at Liam like that?

Clearing his throat, Liam licked at his suddenly dry lips before attempting to speak again “What can I get you guys?” Liam questioned, his fingers resting against the edge of the cash register as he tapped away at it quietly but with nerves coursing through his veins.

Twenty-six.

This guy—he was—yeah, he was definitely a twenty-six out of ten.

“Uh,” The other male began, Harry, the one with the voice deep yet slow—almost relaxing. Almost because the other part of Liam wondered if his pace of speech ever bothered Zayn or any of Harry’s other friends. Liam just wasn’t used to it, was all.

 “I’ll just have a decaf.” Harry nodded promptly after having eyed the menu up on the walls for a decent amount of time before turning towards Zayn only to take a step back to allow Zayn to make his order.

Taking a simple step forward with a tight smile on his face, Liam had to stop tapping at his cash register.

He was _beautiful._

He was and if he ordered something with whipped cream or caramel or whatever the hell he wanted, Liam would triple it, he was sure.

 _Well._ He didn’t want to give anyone diabetes but once couldn’t hurt.

Zayn’s expression remained unreadable to Liam, that same smirk.. thing was still in place and Liam had no idea what to make of it. Was that meant to mean something? Liam had no idea but it managed to make him awfully self-conscience.

“I’ll have the special.” Zayn stated, that smirk only increasing in superpowers, Liam was sure, because _fuck._ If he kept looking at him like that, Liam was sure he’d do absolutely anything Zayn asked him to do. And he meant anything.

Except for, like, killing a puppy. He couldn’t do that.

Or. Jump off a building. Nope, he didn’t want to die so young but--

_Shut up, Liam, and speak._

Well, that wasn’t confusing at all or anything.

 “The special?” Liam repeated, why he did, he wasn’t sure. But—just. Why was he looking at him like that?

Zayn simply laughed, and my god, was there anything else more important than that? Or the way Zayn seemed to flutter his eyelashes at him and— _okay, Liam. You’ve officially lost your sanity. He’s not even fluttering his eyes, you dumbass. He’s just blinking._

“I’ll just have coffee—black.” Zayn smiled, his index finger rubbing against his stubbly chin.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, you can.” Liam nodded, only to halt quickly because… _what? “_ I mean, yeah, okay. Got it.” He let out nervously, using the excuse of pressing the buttons on the machine before him to attempt to rid himself of this boast of nerves he’d acquired simply from the presence of the male before him.

“ _Liam.”_ If it wasn’t the long lost Tommo. “There is a man outside expecting me to haul fifty pounds of fucking coffee beans on _my own;_ Can you go tell the man that that is _your_ job? Jesus Christ.”

Does Liam thank him now or beat him with a shovel?

Looking over his shoulder, Liam nods because, well, someone’s gotta do it, right? “Yeah, let me just finish ringing these lads up—“

“It’s alright, I’ve got it mate.” Louis quickly responded, coming at Liam’s side and pushing him in the direction towards the unloading dock. “Now, off you go. Time is a-wasting.” Louis shooed off, which had Liam look over his shoulder with a glare that could only be described as ‘I’m going to kill you’, all to which Louis pretended to ignore as he started speaking to the two lads.

“May I interest you in the special of the day?” Liam managed to hear before pushing open the door to the back room open. Liam’s eyes furrowed as he came to an empty loading dock. What in the hell? Looking both ways, Liam took a few steps out still in search for someone, _something_ , but to no avail.

Liam was going to kill Louis.

Walking back in from the door, Liam carried a serious expression before halting all too suddenly for what seemed like the third time in the past five minutes.

“And you’ve just experienced what a sight he is, eh? So, what do you say?”

What in the world?

“I’m so confused.” Harry responded.

Well. At least Liam wasn’t the only one.

“The special is my friend. Who’s fucking gay. And desperately single. As you can see on the chalkboard to your left.” Louis explained which had Liam’s eyes shooting wide open, staring at the glass walls of the cafe.

_What?_

Liam knew, he just knew, walking out now would be such an embarrassment but he had to read the chalkboard. He had to. He _remembered_ that _he_ was the one who wrote on the chalkboard. Not Louis. This was just some misunderstanding. That was _all_.

Walking out, Liam’s eyes immediately went to the chalkboard:

‘TODAY YOUR BARISTA IS

1)      HELLA FUCKING GAY.

2)      DESPERATELY SINGLE.

FOR YOUR DRINK TODAY I RECOMMEND:

YOU GIVE LIAM YOUR NUMBER.’

No, no, no, no, _no_.

Louis was so, _so_ dead.

So, so, so fucking dead.

Liam’s face felt warm beyond comprehension and it only worsened when he saw Zayn staring right back at him, an almost sympathetic look on his face.

Louis could most definitely fuck off.

Inhaling a breath, Liam ran a hand through his almost-there-but-not-quite Mohawk before exhaling out the breath through his nose.

_It’s not a big deal, Liam._

_It’s not._

Except it was.

“There was no one outside, Louis.” Liam called out as he made his way around the counter, quick to ignore any form of eye contact as he put himself to work. The faster he finished Zayn and Harry’s drinks, maybe, hopefully, the faster they’d leave.

“Really?” Louis began and Liam was _so_ not in the mood for this. “I could’ve sworn—“

“Just finish ringing them up, Lou—you’re wasting their time.” Liam interrupted, maneuvering the levers of the coffee machine, filling the cups all the way before adding a cup to seal it off.

Setting it on the counter, Liam heard Harry let out an almost offended response, “I beg to differ.” He started, reaching for his drink. “This wanker here hasn’t laughed this much at hours like these in, literally, probably his entire life.”

Liam looked up and over at Zayn who had fondly rolled his eyes at Harry before catching sight of Liam looking at him which had Zayn smile, head bashfully falling.

That was unexpected.

“Here you go.” Liam finished, placing the second cup on the counter before wiping his hands off. “I’m gonna—go check up on the bathrooms. Or something.” Liam spoke out awkwardly, embarrassment still the number one emotion going through his entire being, simply wanting to get away from Louis and away from Zayn and Harry and just—away from here.

He wasn’t even around the corner before that, already familiar, voice called his name.

And shit.

Did Liam like the way his name rolled off of Zayn’s tongue.

“Huh?” Liam barely got to ask as he turned around because, embarrassed or not, Zayn was still a customer and he couldn’t be _rude._ Not like Liam _could_ be rude if he tried. Besides, this was all stupid Louis’ doing.

“Uh,” Zayn began awkwardly, standing pretty damn close for having been at the cash register just two seconds ago. “Told you I wanted the special, didn’t I? So.” Zayn began and—

Excuse Liam but _what?_

“Here.” Zayn motioned, an arm extended with a ripped off paper and scribbled numbers written in black ink.

Was this a joke?

“Is this a joke?” Liam questioned, eyeing the paper cautiously. “Cos I think I’ve just dealt with enough embarrassment for the day.”

“Mate,” Zayn smiled. That fucking smile, Jesus Christ. Liam’s stomach was flipping. “It’s not a joke.”

Looking over at Louis, who did a pretty shitty job of acting oblivious with that shit-eating grin; Liam rolled his eyes before shaking his head, “I’m sorry for my dumbass friend there.”

“I’ll forgive you if you take my phone number and keep me from receiving the lowest of lows—rejection.” He let out, eyes wide before the ever so popular, “Dun. Dun. Duuuun.”

Liam chuckled, bashfully dropping his head before picking it up and taking the paper from Zayn, his cheeks already feeling quite warm yet again. But this time, this time it had nothing to do with embarrassment, no. That easily had to do with Zayn and the ridiculous act of breaking the tension Liam had unintentionally created.

“Alright, cool.” Zayn let out, exhaling out a breath before turning back towards Louis. “He may be a dumbass but he’s got good intentions.” Zayn commented on before then turning his own attention to Harry who was laughing at something Louis had said. “Trust me, I know.” Zayn finished off, turning back to Liam.

“Yeah.” Liam let out, hand scratching at the back of his neck, fingers playing with the short hairs before looking down at the paper in his hand. “Sorry again. If you, like, felt pressured into doing it—it’s totally cool if you didn’t mean to, I get it—“

“Liam.” Zayn let out, interrupting Liam with eyes bright and amused and _fuck_. Yeah, Liam would do anything Zayn asked him with that look, too.  “Call me, yeah?”

“I—yeah.” Liam nodded with a smile after recovering from his fumbling words. “Will do.”

“Cool.” Zayn smiled in return before turning towards Harry, nudging his head at the male who nodded his head at Louis, giving him a quick goodbye before immediately strolling towards Zayn’s side.

“Thanks for the coffee, mate.” Harry grinned, putting a hand at Zayn’s shoulder and squeezing only to mildly shake him. “And thanks for cheering up this cheeky chap at eight am in the morning. It’s definitely a nice sight.”

Liam rubbed at his face to hide the stupid, stupid smile on his face before waving off at them with a hand.

“Later, guys. Have a good one.” Louis called out, making his way over to Liam’s side before tossing an arm around Liam’s shoulder.

“At least you weren’t obvious there. No extra whipped cream or caramel. You saving that for your guys’ first date?” Louis asked cheekily, only to then receive a push from Liam because _really? C’mon,_ now, Louis.  

After the small fit of laughter, Louis quieted down before turning to Liam in question, “So? Tell me I don't deserve the 'Best Mate and Co-Worker' award."

“You were so close to getting the ‘World’s Worst’.” Liam mentioned, shaking his head as he pinched at Louis side with a smile Liam wasn't sure would come off any second now.

“Hey, that was until you got the phone number.” Louis pointed out, eyebrows raised, daring Liam to challenge him.

“Until I got  _Zayn’s_ phone number, yeah.” Liam repeated, eyes staring at the piece of paper with the name and the number and—yeah, okay.

Louis wasn’t the worst best friend or co-worker in the world.

Not at all. 

 


End file.
